The present invention refers to transfer of energy associated with heat exchange The present invention is based on a physical phenomenon, which will be referred-to and explained further as Pressure Gradient Waves or briefly PGW phenomenon. In brief the claimed invention is based on a concept that energy transfer takes place within a compressible fluid medium confined within a vessel due to propagation of elastic Pressure Gradient Waves, which are induced in the fluid medium.
In accordance with the present invention the Pressure Gradient Waves emerge and propagate through compressible fluid medium when there is a pressure gradient inside the compressible fluid medium and while inducing therein fluctuations of density.
As a suitable compressible fluid medium one can use gas or mixture of liquid with gas. The pressure gradient can be applied by different means, for example it can be gravitational pressure gradient, or a dynamic gradient due to forcible rotation, acceleration, deceleration of the fluid medium or due to influence of electromagnetic field on ionized fluid medium. The density fluctuations within the fluid medium could be induced by applying sound waves or by induced turbulence.
The pressure gradient results in establishing within the vessel a high pressure zone and a low pressure zone. The energy transfer results in heating the high pressure zone and cooling the low pressure zone. This phenomenon eventually could be utilized either as such for direct heating or cooling of a fluid medium or, in some applications, be subsequently converted into kinetic energy of the fluid medium and then into electric energy.
The present invention can be used in various domestic and industrial applications like refrigerators, heat pumps, cooling systems, air conditioners, energy producing plants, desalination plants, etc. One should bear in mind however that list of possible applications is not limited merely by the above-mentioned examples and that other possible applications of the Pressure Gradient Waves could be contemplated as well.